The latest collaboration between the Linux Mint team and mini PC maker CompuLab is ready to go. The previously announced Mintbox Mini 2 goes up for pre-order starting today and it should begin shipping in mid-July.

Compulab will offer two models: a $299 version with 4GB of RAM and a 64GB solid state drive, and a $349 Mintbox Mini 2 Pro with 8GB of RAM and a 120GB SSD.

Both should be available today from the Fit-Iot website, and they’ll be available from Amazon in August.

The Mintbox Mini 2 is powered by a 10 watt Intel Celeron J3455 quad-core Apollo Lake processor and ships with Linux Min 19 software.

It has a compact, fanless chassis with an all-metal design with aluminum and zinc die cast parts, cooling fins on the top, and no vents for dust to get trapped in. The computer measures about 4.4″ x 3.3″ x 1.3″ and weighs about 12 ounces.

It features two Gigabit Ehternet ports, two mini DIsplayPort outputs with support for 4K 60Hz video and one HDMI 1.4 output with 4K/30Hz support. There are two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, headset and line-out jacks, a microSD card reader, and 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2.

If you open up the case, you’ll find it relatively easy to upgrade or replace the memory and storage. The system supports M.2 2260/2242 SATA III SSDs and there’s a single 204-pin SODIMM slot that supports up to 16GB of  DDR3L-1866 memory.

And while the computer ships with Linux mint, it can also support Windows 10, FreeBSD, or other GNU/Linux-based operating systems.

Is the Mintbox Mini 2 the cheapest mini PC around? Nope. Is it the most powerful? Certainly not. But it’s a pretty rugged little fanless device for folks that would prefer to buy a compact desktop that comes with something other than Windows 10.

It also comes with a 5-year warranty and it features the same design as CompuLab’s fitlet2 computers, which means it supports “FACET” cards that can bring additional functionality such as support for a 2.5″ hard drive, Power over Ethernet, a 4GB modem, or additional USB ports.

press release (PDF)

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,544 other subscribers

11 replies on “Mintbox Mini 2 launches for $299 and up (fanless mini PC with Linux Mint software)”

  1. Most Celeron mini PCs list their maximum capacity as 8G of RAM even if they have two memory slots. Why can this this on go to 16G?

    1. I have an intel NUC with 32 Gig of ram. It’s the fastest PC I’ve owned.

      7th Generation Intel Core i7-7567U
      Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650
      M.2 22×42/80 (key M) slot for SATA3 or Pie X4 Gen3 NV Me or AHCI SSD
      2.5″ SSD/HDD bay
      Dual channel DDR4-2133 SODIMMs, 32GB maximum

      1. Sure, Bob, does your NUC have a Celeron in it??? I didn’t think so.

        Intel states that its CELERON NUCs can only handle 8G of RAM. Why can the Mintbox handle 16G?

    2. Celeron itself has a max bandwidth of 8 gb ram. That means you can’t have more ram recognized, I think.

      1. That’s what I thought, but the Mintbox website clearly states “Supports up to 16 GB.”

    3. It was clarified in the previous Linux Mint blog post that it does support 16 GB of RAM and Intel’s Ark is incorrect (it wouldn’t be the first time).

      1. Don’t all the NUCs have fans (unless you mod it with a fanless case)?

Comments are closed.